Friday, April 20, 2007

Thursday April 19

As the some of the first round series are wrapping up others are still grinding on. 4 games were played on Thursday night. With the chance for 3 teams to close out their matchups 2 capitalized on that opportunity. For Former Islanders Thursday was another slow night. In those games FIs accounted for a goal, an assist and an OT loss. In the other games the Ottawa Senators downed the Pittsburgh Penguins on home ice, 3-0, to win the series in five games and the Anaheim Ducks, also on home ice, defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-1 to take the series by that same total. Here is a look at the other two games:

The Calgary Flames eked out a win over the Detroit Redwings 3-2 to tie the series up at 2 games a piece. In only his second game of the series, Detroit's Todd Bertuzzi made a marked effort accounting for a goal and an assist. Owing to continued issues from his surgery recovery Bertuzzi's playing time has been sporadic at best. The points were Bertuzzi's first in the postseason since May 8, 2003 when the Vancouver Canucks lost in Game 7 to the Minnesota Wild in a second round matchup. In that series Vancouver had a commanding 3-1 lead before Bertuzzi all but disappeared in the final 3 games.

Speaking of the Canucks, Roberto Luongo stopped the first 29 shots he faced including 4 in OT but it was number 30 that got past him as the Dallas Stars pulled off a 1-0 OT victory in Vancouver. The win cut Vancouver's series lead to 3-2. Luongo's current numbers look like this: he is 3-2 with a .953 save percentage and a ridiculously low 1.39 goals against average (cross-ice rival Marty Turco is sporting the same gaa).

Three more games are up for grabs on Friday. San Jose and Buffalo can down their opponents while in New Jersey one team is going to take the win, and the series lead, in the pivotal Game 5. Check back soon for more Former Islander happenings. Thank you.